Got this e-mail late yesterday:
*** ACTION ALERT ***
After months of deliberation, the Senate leadership is ready to vote and pass its version of health care reform. This current version contains important reforms that will help provide better and more affordable coverage options for many Americans.
However, we are deeply concerned that it does not contain some key elements necessary to increase access to care and make health care more affordable for millions of Hispanic Americans. Namely, it does not eliminate the current five-year waiting period for legal residents to access Medicare, Medicaid and CHIP, and fails to include Puerto Rico in the health insurance exchange and fails to increase Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates to the territories.
Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) has proposed two amendments to address these shortcomings:
The first amendment, which is being co-sponsored by Senators Jay Rockefeller (D-WV), Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Richard Durbin (D-IL), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), would give states the option of removing the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants.
The second would include Puerto Rico in the insurance exchange and bring greater health parity for the territories in terms of Medicaid and Medicare funding. This amendment is being co-sponsored by Senators Charles Schumer (D-NY), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Christopher Dodd (D-Ct), John Kerry (D-MA) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM).
Over the next two days, the Senate leadership will decide the fate of these critical amendments. It's our job to make sure they hear quickly and loudly how incredibly important these amendments are to our community.
Please call Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid as well as your Senator TODAY! Tell them to "prioritize the Menendez amendments and ensure they are included in the final reform package so that health care reform is significant and real for millions of Hispanic Americans". You can count on our full support in this fight."
Please call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 to locate your Senator and also call Senator Harry Reid at 202-224-3542. Thank you.
To learn more about LUH, please visit our website at www.latinosunitedforhealthcare.org < http://www.latinosunitedforhealthcare.org/ > .
Latinos United for Healthcare (LUH) is a nonpartisan coalition of national, state and local Hispanic leaders and organizations that support the passage of significant healthcare reform that increases access to affordable, quality health coverage for all.